Safety switch cabinet



Dec. 11, 1934. MOREINES 1,984,075

SAFETY SWITCH CABINET Original Filed March 25, 1951 INVIENTOR MOPHS Moremes.

BY HIS ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 11, 1934 PATENT OFFICE SAFETY SWITCH CABINET Morris Moreines, Newark, N. J.

Application 1 Claim.

This'invention relates to armor clad or enclosed safety switch cabinets, and more particularly to a cabinet of the above nature having a main switch cover and an auxiliary fuse cover, both of said covers being adapted to be held positively locked in closed position as long as the switch remains closed.

One object of the invention is to provide an enclosed safety switch cabinet of the above nature, in which the fuse cover may be opened for exposing the fuses without the necessity of opening the switch cover to expose the switch.

A further object is to provide a switch cabinet of the above nature having cooperating means on said covers to prevent the main switch cover from being opened while the auxiliary fuse cover is closed.

A further object is to provide a device of the above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and manipulate, compact, and very eflicient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in view, there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawing one form in which the invention may be conveniently embodied in practice.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 represents a fragmentary front view of the enclosed switch cabinet showing the bottom auxiliary fuse cover in open position.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,1ooking in the direction of the arrows, and showing the switch and fuse covers in closed position.

Referring now to the drawing in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 indicates a casing having a main cover 11 pivotally connected thereto at the upper portion thereof by hinges 12, said cover 11 having a rectangular raised central section 13 for permitting a switch 14 of standard double-knife single-throw construction to swing upwardly to the open position shown in Fig. 2 without interference with said cover. The casing 10 is also provided with a smaller auxiliary cover 15 pivotally connected thereto at the lower portion thereof by hinges 16, said cover 15 serving to protect a pair of fuse clips 17 located on the lower portion of an insulating base block 18 to which are also attached two pairs of stationary switch clips 19 and 20, the double knife switch blades 14 being pivoted to said clips 20 as by a pair of pins 20a.

The switch blades 14 are connected together adjacent their upper ends by a rectangular insulat- March 25, 1931, Serial No. 525,072 Renewed October 27, 1934 ing cross-block 21, having a slotted yoke plate 21a secured thereto, as shown in Fig. 2. The yoke plate 21a is adapted to be engaged by a U-shaped switch-operating rod 22 having offset horizontal ends 23 journaled in the sides of the casing. The right-hand end of the switch-operating rod 22, as shown in Fig. 1, is bent upwardly at 24 and provided with a turned over handle member 25. A pair of fuses 26 are adapted to connect the clips 17 with a similar pair of clips 27 connected by a pair of metal strips 28 to the hinge clips 19 of the switch.

In order to prevent the opening of the main cover 11 while the auxiliary cover 15 is closed, provision is made of a flat rabbet strip 29 secured to the inside bottom edge of the main cover 11, as by spot-welding, and extending downwardly to underlap the upper edge 30 of said auxiliary cover 15. This construction permits the covers 11 and 15 to lie flush with each other when closed.

To prevent the opening of the auxiliary cover 15 when the switch 14 is closed, provision is made of a downwardly extending Z-shaped bracket 31 secured to the under face of the auxiliary cover 15 and provided with an offset inclined flat hook member 32 adapted to extend into the horizontal leg 33 of an angle shaped slot 34, formed in a sliding locking channel 35. The channel 35 is held in its lowermost position shown in Fig. 2 by an upwardly-pressed latch member 36 adapted to be forced downwardly by said hook members 32 below the top wall of the channel 35 when the fuse cover is closed. The channel 35 will then be free to slide upwardly, covering the hook member 32 and causing it to be securely locked in closed position.

The covers 11 and 15 are provided near their right-hand upper and lower edges respectively, as viewed in Fig. l with short vertical slots 37 and 38, through which a pair of locking plates 39 and 40 are adapted to pass. The locking plates 39 and 40 are secured to the inside right-hand Wall of the casing 10, and are provided with apertures 41 and 42 for receiving padlocks or other similar locking devices, which may be used whenever it is desired to lock either one or both of the covers 11 and 15. The plates 39 and 40 also have inwardly projecting nibs 43 and 44 to snap over the outside walls of the covers 11 and 15 when the latter are closed.

Operation In operation, assuming the switch to be in closed position, and both the main cover 11 and the auxiliary cover 15 to be also closed, when it is desired to open both of said covers, it will merely be necessary to first open the switch by manipulating the rod 24 by means of the handle 25. The locking plate 40 will then be forced manually to the right, as viewed in Fig. 1, sufficiently to allow its locking nib 43 to move into the slot 38 in the lower auxiliary cover 15, which may then be readily opened.

The upper cover 11 may be opened in a similar manner by pressing the locking plate 39 to the right to permit the locking nib 44 to move into the slot 37. To close the cabinet, the operation is the reverse of that just described, it being understood that the auxiliary lower cover 15 cannot be closed and locked until the upper switch cover has first been closed, and that the switch cannot be closed until both thecovers l1 and 15 have been closed and latche While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claim.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

In a safety switch cabinet, a hollow rectangular casing having a main cover hinged to the longitudinal side of the open end of said casing for enclosing a switch, an auxiliary cover hinged to the longitudinal side of the open end of said casing for enclosing a fuse, said main cover having a rabbet flange adapted to project under the edge of said auxiliary cover to prevent the opening of said main coverwhile said auxiliary cover is closed, and means on said casing for interlocking said switch with said auxiliary cover when the switch is closed to prevent the opening of said 20 auxiliary cover while the switch is closed.

MORRIS MOREINES. 

